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tropic plant help

Gardening Reference » Gardening in 2004
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by naphelge on April 15, 2004 05:23 AM
hi, i just moved into a newer bigger place & thought i would get a few plants to help give the place some colour & character... got me a peace lily, moss cane & snake plant.

never had plants to look after before so from what i have found sofar i water them & keep the leaves misted daily... should i be misting both sides of the plant's leaves or is just the upside good to mist (lack of humidity here in the pacific northwest).

also my moss cane plant seems to have some browning going on with some of the leaves tips, edges & some random spots on the leaves themselves... i have the plants sitting in a window with quite a good amount of southern sunny exposure spring-thru-fall & maybe are these browning edges, tips & spots due to leaves getting too much sun?

wow what a long first post... sorry just a few things running thru my head atm with these plants.

any advice appreciated,
thanx
by Jiffymouse on April 15, 2004 05:46 AM
first of all, congrats on your new place and new plants. you made good choices. the brown spots you are refering to are probably from the misting. an easier and better way to raise the humidity is to place a tray of water maybe 1 inch deep, under each plant. put rocks or something in the tray so that the plant is not actually in the water, but on top of it. that way, as the water evaporates, it will raise the humidity in the general vicinity of the plant, but in a more even manner.

as for the browning tips, you can trim them, but what i do is let them dry to the brittle point, then just flake them off. also, you might want to filter the light some by a sheer curtain (maybe lace or other see through material) during the hottest part of the day.

hope this helps, and keep us posted!
by Will Creed on April 17, 2004 10:01 PM
Keeping humidity levels high is one of the great myths of indoor plantcare. Very few houseplants require high humidity and none of the ones you mentioned do. The misting does no harm (except in direct sunlight), but it really doesn't help.

Proper light is very important. Your snake plant can take the direct sun from a south window, but the others cannot. Move the peace lily and the corn plant (Massangeana cane) to a northern exposure to protect them from direct sun.

Proper watering is also very important. The snake plant thrives on neglect and can probably go a month in between waterings unless it is terribly potbound. In contrast, the peace lily wilts pathetically if the soil gets just a bit too dry. It should be watered whenever the surface of the soil feels almost dry. With the corn plant, allow the top quarter of the soil to dry out before watering thoroughly.

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